Which Pantomimes Are You Seeing This Year?

[Deleted]

What happens when an understudy gets stage fright or refused to perform?

Is that going to bode well for his career?

Some great actors had stage fright - the late Sir Ian Holm springs to mind and I think Roy Marsden did too.

[Deleted]

Sarah Lancashire had spoken before how she suffers from stage fright

[Jon]

I wonder if the audience for Dick Whittington at Richmond managed to get a refund or a credit note for that cancelled performance? I think perhaps tickets to next year's panto free of charge would be an option as well.

[vdcni]

I remember going to the Richmond panto as a kid and there used to be 3 or 4 decent names in it but in the last 10-15 years they've really focused around one star.

I went this year as the concept of Paul Merton as a Dame was intriguing and found a production of two halves. Merton was great but pretty much everything else was poor.

It says something when a minor supporting actor, the guy that played Mike, was more interesting than everyone except Merton. The major weak points were Vivien Parry as Queen Rat who seemed to want to rush through everything no matter what the audience response was and Suki Webster, fine with improv but her acting and performance of the actual script was poor.

Also the whole thing looked cheap, embarrassing for such a successful theatre.

[Jon]

Dec 29, 2023 21:59:05 GMT vdcni said:

I remember going to the Richmond panto as a kid and there used to be 3 or 4 decent names in it but in the last 10-15 years they've really focused around one star.

I went this year as the concept of Paul Merton as a Dame was intriguing and found a production of two halves. Merton was great but pretty much everything else was poor.

It says something when a minor supporting actor, the guy that played Mike, was more interesting than everyone except Merton. The major weak points were Vivien Parry as Queen Rat who seemed to want to rush through everything no matter what the audience response was and Suki Webster, fine with improv but her acting and performance of the actual script was embarrassing.

Also the whole thing looked cheap, embarrassing for such a successful theatre.

TBH that's true for most pantos these days. Wimbledon's Cinderella is built around CRH which seemed to have worked compared to last year which had an assortment of names.

[vdcni]

Maybe it works but it really didn't feel like the audience were responding as well as they could have with better performers selling the weak script.

There were lots of moments where the audience really had to be strongly convinced to react.

[sph]

Dec 29, 2023 22:02:33 GMT Jon said:

Dec 29, 2023 21:59:05 GMT vdcni said:

I remember going to the Richmond panto as a kid and there used to be 3 or 4 decent names in it but in the last 10-15 years they've really focused around one star.

I went this year as the concept of Paul Merton as a Dame was intriguing and found a production of two halves. Merton was great but pretty much everything else was poor.

It says something when a minor supporting actor, the guy that played Mike, was more interesting than everyone except Merton. The major weak points were Vivien Parry as Queen Rat who seemed to want to rush through everything no matter what the audience response was and Suki Webster, fine with improv but her acting and performance of the actual script was embarrassing.

Also the whole thing looked cheap, embarrassing for such a successful theatre.

TBH that's true for most pantos these days. Wimbledon's Cinderella is built around CRH which seemed to have worked compared to last year which had an assortment of names.

Last year they had far too many names yes! The story was weak and each character seemed to only get a brief look-in before they rotated to the next. Matthew Kelly must have been the least-on-stage dame in the country.

I think panto works best when you just have one or two "names" and then some experienced pros who have done it for years playing the dame and comic etc.

[Deleted]

Also unless some newer stars start doing panto or come to the fore during panto we'll see less stars as a lot of the current panto stars are ageing and will gradually retire or want lesser roles.

At one time a large number of TV stars and TV comedians would dominate panto. The traditional dame could become a bit of a lost art eventually although with the mainstream popularity of shows like Drag Race there will be ample high profile performers to filter into the more glamorous panto drag roles. I noticed a fair few are already doing panto and getting good billing.

Also with Gladiators coming back we'll probably have them all in panto next year too!

[bimse]

Dec 30, 2023 2:51:19 GMT @original9 said:

Also unless some newer stars start doing panto or come to the fore during panto we'll see less stars as a lot of the current panto stars are ageing and will gradually retire or want lesser roles.

At one time a large number of TV stars and TV comedians would dominate panto. The traditional dame could become a bit of a lost art eventually although with the mainstream popularity of shows like Drag Race there will be ample high profile performers to filter into the more glamorous panto drag roles. I noticed a fair few are already doing panto and getting good billing.

Also with Gladiators coming back we'll probably have them all in panto next year too!

You’re probably right @original9. The last time Gladiators was on tv, many of them turned up in pantomime. I’ve read that many of the experienced panto performers were less than impressed with having to carry them through the shows.

[fiyero]

Dec 29, 2023 18:29:24 GMT cherokee said:

Dec 27, 2023 15:32:58 GMT fiyero said:

just back on the District Line after the matinee which was missing Paul!
I love seeing covers but it is unusual to see a cover who I genuinely don't think knew he was in this show this morning. I didn't get a programme but I don't think his name is in it, a true emergency cover. Not sure if it is fair to name him but he was script in hand for 90% of the show and obviously didn't know the show but gave a great performance. I wish I had the chance to see him after a rehearsal. As has been mentioned Suki is a great improvisor and covered at least 2 parts [of Paul's track] too.
It was a bit of a shame to see this show that I know from the palladium shrunk down so much. I did expect flying at the end of act 1. The cast were all great though and it was a great example of 'the show must go on'

Boxing Day in Richmond all sounded very dramatic. According to Twitter, the matinee started with Merton off ill, and his understudy - a lad from the chorus - came on, got stage fright and refused to come on again. So the show stopped for 25 minutes, and then when it restarted, a very ill - and apparently grumpy - Merton came on and did perform, although he then had to stop for 5 seconds when he felt faint. They then cancelled the evening show, and presumably drafted in the script-in-hand replacement for the 27th!

Eeek. I did see from twitter there was a show stop, poorly Paul then evening cancellation. Didn’t realise about the cover. I didn’t get a programme but didn’t think any of the ensemble looked like obvious covers! Do you know if he was a listed cover or emergency? I don’t blame him not going on when he is covering the only star, who a lot of the audience will be there specifically to see and who the script is written around.

[nick]

Just seen the Greenwich panto. I was nervous as it is the first I’ve seen since Anthony Spargo took over from Andrew Pollard as writer (and Dame in this production). But he acquited himself well in both roles. It’s messier in style and structure than Andrew’s and parts didn’t quite work but overall it’s a terrific traditional panto.

Also praise for the front of house staff. For the first time ever in my life we arrived a day late. But our blushes were spared as with no fuss they found us some other seats (the reserved comp ones) and left us to it with no recrimination.

I really like the theatre. The bar is fine, the vintage posters up the stairs to the auditorium are fascinating and the rake of the seating works very well - no heads in the way but not vertigo inducing.

[talkingheads]

Dec 29, 2023 21:48:09 GMT Jon said:

I wonder if the audience for Dick Whittington at Richmond managed to get a refund or a credit note for that cancelled performance? I think perhaps tickets to next year's panto free of charge would be an option as well.

I often wonder about this. I appreciate yo buy tickets to the show not for specific actors, but does that still apply when a show is sold on one big star name? I'd be very upset if I travelled to see a big star and they were off.

[cherokee]

Dec 30, 2023 23:44:29 GMT fiyero said:

Dec 29, 2023 18:29:24 GMT cherokee said:

Boxing Day in Richmond all sounded very dramatic. According to Twitter, the matinee started with Merton off ill, and his understudy - a lad from the chorus - came on, got stage fright and refused to come on again. So the show stopped for 25 minutes, and then when it restarted, a very ill - and apparently grumpy - Merton came on and did perform, although he then had to stop for 5 seconds when he felt faint. They then cancelled the evening show, and presumably drafted in the script-in-hand replacement for the 27th!

Eeek. I did see from twitter there was a show stop, poorly Paul then evening cancellation. Didn’t realise about the cover. I didn’t get a programme but didn’t think any of the ensemble looked like obvious covers! Do you know if he was a listed cover or emergency? I don’t blame him not going on when he is covering the only star, who a lot of the audience will be there specifically to see and who the script is written around.

I think most pantos have emergency covers from within the dancing ensemble, especially since COVID. But obviously covering the Dame - particularly if he's the "name" is a big responsibility for a young dancer, and you can understand him being terrified. I don't imagine he got much in the way of rehearsal either, if any!
Presumably the stand-in the following day has had experience of Dame-ing even if he wasn't familiar with this particular show, hence going on with the script.

[sph]

I imagine that a bigger company like Crossroads might have a few "standby" dames they can send in if desperate, but of course I could be wrong. Sometimes directors step in and do it.

The difficulty is that a lot of panto jokes are written around the celebrity's persona or most famous roles. It's hard to do Eastenders jokes for example when the soap star is off sick and you've got a 23-year-old ensemble member playing Abanazar.

[hannechalk]

Saw 'Peter Pan' at the Bristol Hippodrome tonight, and it was excellent! Really funny!

It was the final show of the run so I shall post spoilers.

Starring David Suchet as Hook, local comedian and panto favourite Andy Ford as Smee, Faye Tozer as the Magical Mermaid and Ceri Dupree as Mrs Smee.

This was David Suchet's first panto, and he was a natural! At 77 he was put through his paces as well, no holding back including a comedy fall.

He was a great Hook, but after his demise at the end of act I, he appeared in act II. It was then revealed he was Hook's nice twin brother, called Hercule. You can guess what happened, and although it went over the childrens' heads, the adults were loving it! He went in full Poirot-costume and character, explaining what happened.

Faye Tozer got to make plenty of Steps-references, and sang a medley at the end. She has a great voice!

At the end Andy Ford did a little speech how it was Sir David's very first panto, and how he had thrown himself into it, earning everyone's admiration. His kind words made Sir David quite emotional.

The show ran over by 20 minutes, so I had to leg it for one of the last buses home, but it was a great show!

[ladidah]

Did anyone else see the Drag Panto, Sleeping Beauty?

[Jon]

Went to Cinderella at the New Wimbledon Theatre, first panto in years and honestly it was a lot of fun. Craig Revel Horwood stole the show as Demonica Hardup, As much as I liked Cassie Compton as Cinderella, she is overshadowed by CRH, Pete Firman and Alison Jiear.

The effects are good especially the one at the end of Act 1. I am certainly going to go to more pantos this year for sure.

[woobl]

Jan 3, 2024 10:17:44 GMT ladidah said:

Did anyone else see the Drag Panto, Sleeping Beauty?

Didn't catch it. How was it? Did see the other Sleeping Beauty at Charing Cross which was a riot.

[mhumphries]

Well only one panto this year, my local in Plymouth, Goldielocks and the Three Bears and with this panto it is with sadness that I realise my town is now a D-List panto town. It was a good run, I've seen classic stars of TV and screen in my lifetime grace the Plymouth Panto stage, but this year we might as well not bothered and given it to an independent.

This year Plymouth was literally the last Crossroads panto to get a cast announcement, and I mean last, September. I knew the structure of this year's panto, so was happy to accept it would be little plot and more specialty/variety acts filling up most of the runtime... we got one juggler, in Act Two, who dropped his balls and sticks more then a couple of times during his 7 minute act. The end of Act One saw the tightrope walk cancelled for a 30 second unicycle bit and even on the nights they did do the tightrope, the guy never made it across from other poeple I spoke to. Add to the fact multiple mic faults, which lead to a few of the cast having to pass one hand held microphone between them at one point.

So that brings us to our headline star, Dame Kelly Holmes, her frist panto and boy it showed. From the look of terror in her already botox to hell face, to mumbling her lines and being about as graceful dancing as I am an athlete, it was a sad thing to watch at times.

Alexandra Mardell was as a bland soap star in a panto you could get as the title character. Really out off all the cast it was only Brendan Cole giving it some effort, but that only highlighted how lacking the rest of the cast was.

Almost £60 a ticket as well, this is the worst sate I have ever seen a panto.

[talkingheads]

Pinocchio at Newcastle is wonderful. Danny and Clive really are in a class of their own. I also loved that they had a proper, full on slosh scene with buckets and buckets of foam, no other pantos seem to do them, presumably because of health and safety, but a proper panto should have one.

[talkingheads]

Berwick Kaler and his gang have officially retired as Dame after forty seven years in York: yorkmix.com/panto-shock-as-berwick-kaler-goes-after-47-years-brand-new-york-show-announced/?fbclid=IwAR0I44aWJfeA1JgEtVwOict3Hq2eN4BI6H9hJ26Ttzk5toFfC_ocBq6QjRo#google_vignette

The new show is Beauty and the Beast.

[stevej678]

Four pantos booked for this year.

Starting with the Liverpool institution that is the rock and roll panto at the Everyman Theatre.

Then it's Jack and the Beanstalk, another rock and roll panto, at City Varieties in Leeds. Consistently one of the highlights of the year and only seems to get better each time.

Napoleon: Un Petit Pantomime at the Jermyn Street Theatre is up next, this year's unique panto offering from Charles Court Opera.

And finally, Robin Hood at the Palladium. Every year I say I don't think I'll bother with the Palladium panto again, then somehow I always end up back there!

[matttom0901]

I have 6 booked so far:

Cinderella - adults only (at King’s Head Theatre)
Sleeping with Beauty (Union Theatre)
Jack and the Beanstalk (Charing Cross Theatre)
The Liar, the Bitch and the Wardrobe (Turbine Theatre)
Homo Alone (The Other Palace)
Dick Whittington (Greenwich Theatre)

[TallPaul]

Although far from new, an interesting article about Evolution Productions. Well worth a read.

www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/dec/04/vodka-britains-panto-powerhouse-evolution-glitter

[talkingheads]

Danny and Clive celebrate twenty years in Newcastle with Aladdin next year:

www.theatreroyal.co.uk/whats-on/aladdin/